There are few things as disturbing as severed body parts. It's no wonder that they are frequently used as Halloween decorations. We live in a world where death is very much kept behind closed doors and that's reflected by the decreased popularity of open casket wakes.

So, naturally, people were horrified when 27 pairs of severed hands were found washed up on an ice-covered island in Russia.

Credit: The Siberian Times

The discovery was made just outside the city of Khabarovsk in the Far East of Siberia, close to the border with China.

Fifty-three of the hands were found inside a bag. The hand that wasn't in a bag was spotted by a local who alerted authorities.

Credit: The Siberian Times

It was seen on a snow-covered island in the Amur River, which is around 18 miles downstream from the Russian frontier with China.

Credit: The Siberian Times

Despite being found at a popular fishing spot, locals reported nothing suspicious in the area leading up to the grim discovery.

According to The Siberian Times, it was a "mystery over who the sinister hands belonged to, when they were chopped off - and why".

In an attempt to solve the mystery, fingerprints have been found on one hand and the others are being tested to identify them.

Credit: The Siberian Times

Because of the disturbing nature of the find, people have begun to speculate about where the hands came from.

One theory is that the hands were cut off to punish people who had been caught stealing.

Check out the video below to learn about another shocking discovery of severed hands:

As for the hands, which were recently found in Russia, another theory is suggesting that they were robbed from graves. The people they belonged to could have had their organs stolen and their hands would have been removed to stop their bodies being identified.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

A third theory proposes that the hands were taken from dead bodies in a hospital, although it is not known why this would happen.

"It is a sickening sight," a local source said of the hands.

On the subject of severed hands, a butcher in India hit the headlines this week after he cut off his son's hands for watching adult material on his smartphone. The incident happened when the teenager refused to hand over his phone.

Credit: Shutterstock

Eighteen-year-old Mohammad Khalid Qureshi's 45-year-old father had repeatedly told him to stop watching the explicit material. He had recently got the smartphone and become obsessed with it.

The image below is reported of Khalid, who is from the city of Hyderabad.

Credit: Facebook

Before the teen's hands were severed, his father tried to grab the smartphone from him, but he refused to give it up. They clashed again soon after.

Credit: Inside News

"In a fit of anger, Qayyum picked up his butcher's knife and chopped off Khalid's right hand,"Pahadishareef police inspector P Lakshmikanth Reddy told the Hindustan Times.

"Hearing the son's screams, the other family members came and immediately took him to a nearby hospital, where the doctors said the hand was 90% severed and the chances of restoring it are bleak."

The 45-year-old handed himself to authorities (no pun intended) after mutilating his son, claiming that Khalid was "badly addicted to watching porn" and this was having a negative effect on "his work, food, and sleep".